(L-R) Jenna Ortega, Natalie Portman, Cathy Yan and Charli xcx attend “The Gallerist” Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theater on January 24, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
By Adam Silverstein
Cathy Yan steps onto the Eccles Theatre stage and laughs. She looks out at the sea of seats and says: “This is a big-ass theatre. Definitely bigger than the one I last premiered in.” The crowd roars. It’s a homecoming of sorts — Yan’s debut feature Dead Pigs premiered at the Festival in 2018 — but the scale is different now. The Gallerist, her new comedy in the Premieres category, arrives like a flex.
Before the film rolls, Yan takes a moment to acknowledge the place. “Sundance changed my life,” she says, thanking Robert Redford for a vision that helped launch her career. She calls the level of talent involved in this project “obscene,” both in front of and behind the camera. Once the movie starts, it’s hard to argue.
The Gallerist is a furious, funny, tightly wound satire of the contemporary art world, where morals are flexible and ego is the most valuable commodity in the room. The setup is deceptively simple: a gallery hosts an early look for an art influencer, hoping to generate buzz for an emerging artist. Then something goes terribly wrong. A piece of art becomes a corpse. The corpse becomes art. And suddenly everyone wants in.
An unrecognizable Natalie Portman plays Polina Polinski, the blonde icy gallery director, and Jenny Ortega is her loyal assistant Kiki — the two form a sharp double act that cuts through the noise. Zach Galifianakis is Dalton Hardberry, the art influencer with 2 million followers on social media. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is Stella Burgess, the artist at the center of the chaos.
Then there’s the rest of the cast — and there’s a lot of them. Catherine Zeta-Jones storms in as a hilariously ruthless negotiator trying to buy the piece. Sterling K. Brown is Polinski’s feuding ex. Daniel Brühl is a nepo baby who wants a piece of the action. And Charli xcx shows up as a chaotic influencer who fully detonates the evening. It’s a roll call that keeps escalating, and somehow the film never buckles under the weight of it.
The audience reacts in waves, gasping at the central twist, then laughing hysterically as the implications spiral further out of control. Yan keeps the energy relentless. The film plays almost like a Shakespearean farce: doors opening and closing, allegiances shifting, money talking louder than ethics. The whole thing unfolds in what feels like one continuous, nervy take, the camera gliding and wobbling to heighten the sense of chaos.
Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place” drops at exactly the right moment, and the irony lands hard. Who says comedy is dead?
During the Q&A, Yan frames the film as being about art and commerce, and the ugly intimacy between the two. “I was interested in what is art and who gets a say in it. It’s so subjective. I was intrigued by that.” She credits her co-screenwriter James Pedersen with coming up with the original concept.
Portman laughs when asked about her role. “I’ve never tried to sell a dead body before!” she says, earning another round of applause. “[Polina] just has this very uptight way about her that was clear. She was so tight on the page, it was easy to imagine.”
By the end, the Eccles is buzzing. The Gallerist is sleek, vicious, and wildly entertaining. Yan is back where she started, only louder, sharper, and fully in control of the room.
